This book addresses issues surrounding writing centers in the Arabian Gulf region. Including a foreword by Professor Ken Hyland, it brings together a number of thought-provoking chapters on the history, concept, and ground realities coupled with critical comparative discussions of writing centres in the region. The book begins by offering critical historical accounts of writing centers in the Gulf countries, before moving onto empirical research and reports on pedagogical practices that vividly capture the on-the-ground realities faced and experienced by different actors. These accounts serve to highlight how the writing centers vary between countries, as well as how they differ from the more well-known writing centers in the US and the UK. Finally, the book explores what sort of commonalities and differences the current trend of writing centres is producing within and between the six countries of the Arabian Gulf. This book will be highly relevant to those involved with writing centres along with directors, policymakers, researchers and teacher educators in the fields of Education and Sociology, particularly those with an interest in the Arabian Gulf area.
 

PART I: Historical Review of Writing Center(s) across the Arabian Gulf countries.- Chapter 1. The Emergence of Writing Centers in the Saudi Higher Education Landscape: A Genealogical Investigation; Hamid Ali Khan Eusafzai.- Chapter 2. A Critical Re-Reading of the History of Writing Centers in the UAE; Ayman Elsheikh & Jessica Winters.- Chapter 3. Writing Centers in Higher Education Institutions in Qatar: A Critical Review; Julian Williams, Abdelhamid Ahmed & Waheed Adeyimika Bamigbade.- Chapter 4. The Evolution of Writing Centers in Bahrain: A Multipronged Analysis; Joel C. Meniado.- Chapter 5. Development of Writing Centers in Oman: Tracing the Past, Understanding the Future; Khalid Al-Bishi.- Chapter 6. The History of Writing Centers in Kuwait: Critical Perspectives; Salih Abdullah  & Inan Deniz Erguvan.- PART II: Writing Center(s) on the Ground.- Chapter 7. Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills in Writing at a Saudi Arabian Writing Center; Lawan Dalha.- Chapter 8. ThereMay Have Been Other Stuff Going On: Affective Labor and the Writing Center as a Safe House; Ken Nielse.- Chapter 9. Writing Support in a Transnational Context: De-centring the Writing Center in a Medical College in Qatar; A.S. Weber  and  A.H. Larson.- Chapter 10. Writing Centers in Bahrain: Negotiating the Technologies of the Self; Sajjadllah Alhawsawi &  Nasreen Mahmood Al Aradi.- Chapter 11. Negotiating Pedagogies in Omani Writing Centers; Raniah Kabooha.- Chapter 12. SWOT Analysis of GUST Writing Lab; Inan Deniz Erguvan.- Chapter 13. A Review of Writing Centre Tutor Training Materials in the GCC; Tony Schiera.- PART III: Comparative Investigations of Writing Centers in the Arabian Gulf Countries.- Chapter 14. Writing Centers in the Higher Education Landscape of the Arabian Gulf: Dialogic Investigations; Habib Bouagada.

Dr Osman Z. Barnawi (PhD in Composition and TESOL) is the former Managing Director of Yanbu English Language Institute as well as the founder of the Writing Centers at the Royal  Commission Colleges and Institutes, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. He is now the Managing Director of Yanbu Technical Institute at the Royal Commission Colleges and Institutes.